Women of Reform Judaism – Social Advocacy
Social Action Rings – An Eight-Step Program to
Advocacy in Action
As the new chair for Social Advocacy for the WRJ Mid-Atlantic District, I wanted to remind all Sisterhoods about the WRJ Social Action Rings, which is an eight-step program to advocacy and action. This program provides an easy “how-to” guide to help your Sisterhood organize a social action program. The WRJ Social Action Rings utilize social action resources on the WRJ website and offer tools to help your Sisterhood advocate for important social justice policies. This is all part of WRJ Women Act, WRJ’s advocacy campaign. The Rings program will guide your sisterhood in prioritizing social action programming and advocacy in your congregation.
The following statement from our WRJ website reflects the importance of social advocacy and social programming (#WRJWomenACT):
“WRJ has a long and proud history of advocacy and engagement on public policy issues. We take action on the basis of existing resolutions and policy statements adopted by our leadership as well as the values of Reform and Progressive Judaism.
Today, we are being called upon to speak out on a wide range of issues, from cabinet nominations to international relations, from health care to environmental regulations, from stranded refugees to issues before the highest Court in the land. The speed of this activity is overwhelming.”
In the coming months, as we organize, mobilize, seek partners, preach, teach, and lift up our voices to secure the America of our dreams, as WRJ women always have done, WRJ will continue to do what it does best - educate and organize WRJ women to be effective leaders and advocates for the values we share.”
Here are the highlights of the Eight-Step Program – To Put Rings into Action in Your Sisterhood
1.Identify Sisterhood members who are interested in social action and invite them to an introductory meeting.
2.Recruit women from the congregation (non-members of Sisterhood) who are interested in social action and invite them to the introductory meeting.
3.Schedule an introductory meeting and include the following:
• Share WRJ resources and tools
• Demonstrate how to find advocacy resources on the WRJ website (www.WRJ.org)
• Share WRJ’s Advocacy Plan
• Prioritize issues
• Form Action Rings
• Document Action items
• Identify “Ring Leaders”
• Establish next steps
4.Following the Meeting, the Social Action/Advocacy Chair will work with the “Ring Leaders” and the Sisterhood to coordinate social advocacy efforts. (For a detailed list of steps, please refer to WRJ.org/WRJWomenAct)
5.Plan a meeting for the three-month halfway point. (More information is available at WRJ.org/#WRJWomenAct)
6.Have a person designated to take minutes and record the personal stories.
7.Ask your Rabbi if your Sisterhood could do a presentation for a Sisterhood Shabbat or a Social Action Shabbat that highlights the work of this committee.
8.Repeat every 6 months to highlight, discuss, and educate about the Social Action Rings.
I hope this summary of the WRJ Social Action Rings will encourage you to visit the WRJ site to further review how to help your Sisterhood set up a dynamic social action/advocacy committee and program.
For more information about social advocacy, please visit this site: https://rac.radcampaign.com/advocacy-issues
Francine Thalheimer
Chair, Social Advocacy, WRJ Mid-Atlantic District
Chair, Critical Issues/Social Action, Temple Israel Sisterhood, Charleston, WV
